Dinging Level 29 with my Warrior Oddity seems like so long ago. I vaguely recalled the moment I turned 29 and vowed to enter the Warsong Gulch and fight for honor till I’d earned my Sergeant’s stripes, or I dinged 30, whichever came first.

And did I ever fish up a storm. I mean the waits to get into Warsong Gulch are everlasting. I sometimes waited an hour, killing time by speaking with the Battle Master in Orgrimmar and heading out to the Crossroads and then running up to the Oasis up North where Deviate Fish spawn.

But one third of my way to Level 30 and I thought to myself “This sucks. I’m getting nowhere.” I’d earned all of two stripes for my time spent here. So I decided to head out into the real world and return to the Way of the Warrior.

I’d gotten a Warrior quest back when I was level 20. The Brutal Armor quest. I’d gone to Stonetalon Peak to get some ore out of one of it’s mines. I’d already mined some of my own iron ore and smelted it into bars. And I’d gotten some powdered Azurite from the Azureload Mine in Hillsbrad. What I had left was to get some Phlogistone (or something like that, Me Orc! Me Smash! Me not so bright always!). But I wasn’t worried about it. The quest reward for completing that armor set wasn’t as nice as what I could already make myself. BUT it was a Warrior quest and I figured I’d have to complete that one to get the one I really wanted, my own Whirlwind Axe.

Not really going anywhere and on my way south of Camp Tarajo to look for green mobs to kill I heard a group was looking for a tank for Razorfen Kraul. Checking real quick I realized the component I needed for my Warrior quest was actually found in RFK. Yay! And I had one quest there already, that was to get the heart of Razorflank. So I volunteered my axe and shield and was invited into a group.

It was a glorious run my friends. I the level 29 Tank, the Mage 30, the Priest 28, the Rogue 29, and a Hunter 28. I tanked and was 2nd on the DPS, the mage coming in first, and we did not have a single death. Not one. We were through there in a little over an hour. We were stoked on completing that one. A pick-up-group that good is something few and far between. Turning in the heart of Razorflank saw me dinging 30, and already having gotten a nice shield out of RFK I opted for the mail girdle quest reward. And with the phial of phlogistan I went to the armorer in the Barrens and he made me the promised Brutal Haubrek. This piece of chest armor was as nice as what I was wearing, but in different ways. One emphasized Strength and the other Stamina. Both could have their purpose.

But there was more to the Brutal armor set as I was to learn. Gloves, Leggings, and Helm as well. These turned out to be easier to acquire. I got the component for the Helm by killing a Chimera in the Charred Vale, and I returned it to the armorer and had a helm made. It wasn’t as nice as what I was already wearing.

I then turned my attention to the new Warrior quest set for me. That was to journey to Fray Island and speak with The Islander. (Yes, it’s a pun. :) I had to prove myself and it was just so easy. Even the big guy, Will, he fell to my blows without me even breaking a sweat.

So now I had the quest to go get my Axe. I volunteered the help of a guildmate and for that help assisted him with his own character. What a sweet axe for a level 30 Warrior. If you can get your hands on one, do so. With new axe in hand I continued on my journey to complete my Brutal Armor set.

The Brutal Leggings would be fashioned for me when I returned to the armorer with the shinbones taken from Dragonmaw Orcs. These are the Dragonmaw Orcs that patrol the Wetlands. To get to them I had to journey first from Hillsbrad to Hammerfall in the Arathi Highlands. This would be my first run there. It was a quick journey and I avoided the attention of the various beasts by sticking to the road. I even escaped the notice of the one Alliance I came across and that was a Level 60 Warlock. (Whew.)

On reaching Hammerfall and getting the flightpath there, I then turned south and headed into the Wetlands. Again, no Alliance and the Dragonmaw’s fell to the Whirlwind Axe like there was no tomorrow. And I dinged 31 while doing it. Not bad.

Now having gotten the shinbones, and being so far south already, I decided “Why not?” and decided to head out to the Badlands. I journeyed up the Dwarven tunnels, killing a couple of defenders very easily (that Whirlwind Axe is AWESOME!) and making my way through the Loch Modan region.

Actually entering the Badlands was equally anti-climatic. The wolves spotted me right away but I just kept running. My Warrior abilities kept me healthy with their every blow it seemed and I eventually arrived at Kargath.

From there I hopped on a Windrider and flew south to Grom’gol where I’d been the day before collecting tusks for the axe quest. I love the sea.

I then hopped on the Zepplin out of there and flew up to the Undercity where I turned in the legbones and collected my Brutal leggings.

I then hearthed back to the Crossroads and then flew north to Splintertree Post. I had one last piece of the Brutal armor set to get and that involved collecting Satyr hooves. So easy. I wasn’t one-shotting these level 28 Satyr, but close enough. Cleave is a wonderous thing. (One cleave hit was 456 points of damage!) And while a collected my hooves I noticed I was making good progress on the experience front as well. Before my hearthstone had cooled down for reuse I dinged 32. On dinging, I hearthed back to the Crossroads, flew to Orgrimmar, got some more Warrior training, and then ran down to Sin’jin Village where I collected the last piece of my Brutal Armor set, the gloves.

You know, if you can get all these quests done, you’re already wearing something better than the quest rewards. For a newcomer with modest means maybe it’s a good set. For someone twinked and pampered like Oddity, well, it was a bit of a let down. But, wasn’t that fitting afterall? For do we not find tears at the end of every Warrior’s journey?

I was tempted to take the Whirlwind Sword and not the Axe. But then I remembered the +5 Axes that Orc have and I was sold. I can’t wait to get that whirlwind move that’ll spin me around. And, of course, my riding wolf. :)